University Librarians (UL's) at the University of California: Stand on Your Principles...Release Librarian Merit Pay Now

Top library administrators (UL's) and negotiators from the UC Office of the President are withholding payment of merit increases from librarians whose merits were awarded in July of this year. UC has stated that they will release payment of our merits if we give up our right to negotiate changes to our pension and retiree health benefits. This divide and conquer strategy is taking a serious toll on morale within the library. Those librarians who were awarded merit increases this year (about 1/3 of librarians) have earned them by being leaders in our field, and through our excellent work supporting the research needs of faculty and students at UC.

UC's strategy to divide librarians is not working. In a real show of solidarity, UC librarians from every campus delivered hundreds of postcards to our UL’s and to President Yudof rejecting their coercive bargaining tactics, and demanding the release of our merit increases. We know that some UL's want to do the right thing, and we need your support to convince them that arbitrarily harming a significant number of our colleagues is not a path to a new contract, or to an agreement on benefits reform. If UL's stand up for the basic principle that earned merit increases should not be used as a wedge in negotiations, UCOP will have no choice but to release our earned merit increases.

I just signed the following petition addressed to: University Librarians on all campuses in the UC system.----------------I've been informed that UCOP and Library administrators are withholding payment of merit increases earned by librarians at UC in an attempt to gain more freedom to reduce retiree pension and health benefits for UC employees.

This ill-conceived and counterproductive bargaining tactic is undermining librarian morale, while arbitrarily harming our dedicated colleagues emotionally and financially. It also jeopardizes the excellent support that librarians provide to faculty and students at UC.

UC should not attempt to undermine any employee's right to negotiate retirement benefits, and administrators should not hold librarian's earned merit increases hostage to achieve their bargaining goals.

I urge you to release payment of librarian merit increases now. It's in the interest of all who value UC and its libraries.----------------